immigration

The White House announced today that President Obama will seek congressional approval for more than $3 billion to deal with the growing number of children, who are alone and crossing the border illegally from Mexico into the United States. The federal government is also seeking applications from not-for-profit and other groups to set up centers to house the children. One of those possible centers is the former Kenwood Academy Convent in Albany. Eric Copland is an immigration attorney with Copland and Brenner, a law firm in Latham. He says this type of situation has taken place before...

Immigration reform is making headlines today. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told the House Homeland Security Committee that the Obama administration is looking at every possible option to help respond to a flood of immigrants—many of them children without parents—crossing the border illegally in southern Texas. And in Massachusetts the mayor of Springfield is calling for a moratorium on sending refugees to the city.

As the present global mind-set continues to dominate the American psyche, from the acme of political policy to many ordinary areas of doing business, this commentator calls “Time-Out!”, for a look at where we are, how we got here, what it’s cost us and what our future portends. As the self-appointed market managers of the so-called democratic (small-d) idiom, we seem to have become habituated to catch-phrases that create a wide latitude of definition and too much room for inexactitude: like “National Destiny” and “Spheres of Interest;” both of which help to harbor inhospitable hanky-panky for the uncontrolled capture of money and power.

Supporters of Dream Act legislation say they were “set up” when a hastily arranged vote on the bill in the New York State Senate chamber late Monday led to the measure’s failure by just one vote. The focus is now shifting to Governor Cuomo. Backers say they will try to get the governor to put the measure into the state budget.

For those of us with multi-generational and still functioning memories, except for techno-centric system difficulties, there’s little to be optimistic about with respect to the present state of governance at just about every level, in these apparently ‘disunited states of America’. For this archaic member of the so-called “Greatest Generation,” time seems to have U-turned into reverse mode, by more than ninety years. Although it had backed away from the League of Nations and World Court, The U.S. in 1921 (the year before this commentator was born) convened separate conferences on limiting naval tonnage and non-use of asphyxiating gasses; to which most nations agreed. The U.S. avoided signing a commitment against the use of armed force, without congressional approval, which somehow seems not to have been given.

As a nation organized by émigrés stirred by selfish design or desperation, should one expect out-comes according to what originally impelled them? Hardly—and yet, much of what our visionary antecedents desired came to pass, despite selfish side-steps and stubborn reluctance, by single-minded saboteurs. But when such hindrance becomes the stock-in-trade of those invested with responsible representation, just to gain political or financial profit or mere personal satisfaction --- honorable defenders must mount forceful opposition.